It happened. We let the child out of his “cage.” AKA crib.
Thanksgiving Day, I put Mateo down for a nap in his crib. I told him, “When you wake up, we’re going to go have a Thanksgiving Feast and go see Kyle (his cousin).” I do this a lot. At night I’ll tell him to “let me know when you wake up in the morning.” It just seems to help him feel like he’s choosing to go to sleep. (‘Cause toddler like to fight. they just do).
But…it backfired. Possibly “feast” and “cousin” were just too exciting. About 15 minutes later I heard his little voice and it was decidedly not coming from inside his room. We (my parents, sister, Aki, and brother) all ran upstairs…and there he was. Yes, outside. Of his crib, of his room.
Mateo: “Guys, I’m awake!”
He recreated “the climb” for the audience. Three times in a row. It was a one-handed operation (because one arm is always cradling his monkey. No monkey left behind). I wish I’d taken a video. Probably not the safest thing to climb out of a crib, one handed while groggy so it was “ciao ciao crib” and “hola toddler bed.” (His crib has a neat little conversion set which opens one side and turns it into a bed).
These photos are from that first night sleeping in his “new” bed. My dad read his bedtime stories (Uncle Christian hung out for a bit too), and it’s pretty novel to be able to have someone else SIT in his bed. :) I have a lot of photos of “Papa” reading to Mateo from the past two years. They’re some of my favorites because my dad read to us every night as kids. I actually still can’t go to sleep to this day without a story (now podcasts).
So yup, now you’re fully updated on Mateo’s sleeping situation. No real big news, but it definitely feels like a milestone. He’s one step closer to being a proper big boy.
Ah, and the best part. When he wakes up, he opens his door and yells one of the following:
“guys!”
“guys I’m awake!”
“Anyone? Anyone?”
“It’s Teo!”
TIME. It sure does fly…